Day 100: Sra. Claudia Sasse, Teacher, Westgate School

What did I learn today?

Today we celebrate 100 Days of School! Our CBE’s students from all over the city are celebrating this big milestone by doing different activities. Also, in my grade two Spanish Bilingual class we will be having special activities to celebrate our 100 Days of Learning. However, this school year we did something different… we have celebrated every single day of our learning in the classroom.

How did we do that?​

We learned from our First Nation and Aboriginal People that we need to acknowledge every day of our lives as a gift. Therefore, we started sharing our feelings, difficulties, and successes every day through our Circle of Courage. ​

What is the Circle of Courage

I loved the definition that my students gave to explain our Circle of Courage:

 “First of all, we needed to acknowledge the Land where we gather every day here at Westgate School, Calgary, AB.
Then, everyday we gather as s group in a circle, we sit on the carpet where everybody can see each other and we pass around a rock from the Bow River.
One of the rules of our Circle of Courage is... if you have the rock you have the right to talk!
So, we know that we have to be good listeners when our peers are talking.
We are developing a culture of respect during our discussions and sharing time. We share anything we feel it is important to share about what happened to us during that day, good or bad.” ​​(Grade 2 students.)

My Personal View of this experience:

This has been one the best experiences I ever have had as a teacher! As we are in a Language Program, we sometimes do our Circle of Courage in Spanish, other times we do it in English. We have accomplished so many things, such as, practicing both languages, learning about the traditions of the People that were here before us, and also by developing our listening skills and respect for each other.


Sra. Claudia Sasse (@ClaudiaGSasse) is passionate about Language and Culture. She loves teaching and learning from her kiddos! Her last name is Sasse (pronounced Sass, the “e” is silent), but some of call students call her Sra. “Sassy”… I believe that they are right!!! LOL

My Grade 2 Classroom Blog: http://circleofcouragegrade2spanish.blogspot.ca
 
My Resource Blog: (I am also a Resource Teacher for my School’s Spanish Program. I teach 0.5 in my grade 2 class and the other 0.5 I am in the resource room;)
http://resourcetime.blogspot.ca
 
My Master’s Blog (This is part of my Capstone Project for my Med in Elementary Education. My focus is on Curriculum and Pedagogy. I will present my Capstone at U of A in April, convocation coming up soon!!!!!)
http://sasse-auto-ethnography.blogspot.ca/